AP Executive Morning Briefing

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Friday, May 25, 2007:

Nordic Bourse OMX to Merge With Nasdaq

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) _ Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., which lost its battle to cross the Atlantic with a failed bid for the London Stock Exchange, agreed Friday to buy Nordic stock exchange operator OMX AB for 25.1 billion kronor ($3.67 billion). The acquisition is a major breakthrough for the Nasdaq, which still owns almost 30 percent of the London exchange and could use the purchase of OMX to persuade LSE shareholders to agree to a deal creating a giant European exchange.

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Wall Street Seen Opening Higher

NEW YORK (AP) _ U.S. stocks headed for a higher open Friday as investors adjusted positions ahead of a three-day holiday weekend, and were encouraged by more takeover activity as the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. announced a deal to buy Sweden's OMX AB. The $3.67 billion deal gives Nasdaq an entrance into Europe through OMX, which operates exchanges in seven Nordic countries. It will become the world's second trans-Atlantic exchange after the New York Stock Exchange bought Paris-based Euronext earlier this year.

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Gap Inc.'s 1Q Profit Falls 26 Percent

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Gap Inc.'s management has changed, but the troubled clothing retailer's financial trends remain distressingly familiar with both profits and sales still evaporating. Although it wasn't quite as bad as analysts feared, Gap's first-quarter profit fell by 26 percent as the San Francisco-based company struggled to win back shoppers after several years of fashion missteps.

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Sony Develops Film-Thin Display

TOKYO (AP) _ In the race for ever thinner displays for TVs, cell phones and other gadgets, Sony may have developed one to beat them all _ a razor-thin display that bends like paper while showing full-color video. Sony Corp. posted video of the new 2.5 inch display on its Web page Friday. In the video, a hand squeezes the 0.3 millimeter (0.01-inch)-thick display, which shows color images of a bicyclist stuntman, a picturesque lake and other images.

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Japan Consumer Prices Down 0.1 Percent

TOKYO (AP) _ Japan's most-watched consumer price index fell for a third month in April, edging down 0.1 percent, the government said Friday, raising doubts that deflation was really a thing of the past. The core CPI, excluding volatile food prices, dropped 0.3 percent on year in March after slipping 0.1 percent in February _ the first drop in 10 months.

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Crude Oil Prices Rise in Asian Trading

SINGAPORE (AP) _ Crude oil prices rose in Asian trading Friday amid worries about tension in major oil producers Nigeria and Iran. Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose 49 cents to $64.67 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange mid-afternoon in Singapore. The contract fell $1.59 to settle at $64.18 a barrel Thursday.

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Home Sales Soar by Record Amount

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The beleaguered housing industry is sending mixed signals, with sales of new homes surging in April by the biggest amount in 14 years while prices endured a record plunge. Analysts said the price drop could provide evidence of builders' desperation. They are looking to reduce a glut of unsold homes in the face of the worst slump in sales in more than a decade.

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Best Buy Accused of Overcharging

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ Connecticut's attorney general announced a lawsuit Thursday against Best Buy Co. Inc., accusing the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer of deceiving customers with in-store computer kiosks and overcharging them. The lawsuit accuses Best Buy of denying deals found at the company's Web site, http://www.BestBuy.com. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said store employees charged customers higher prices found on a lookalike internal Web site.

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Nasdaq Expected to Buy Sweden's OMX

NEW YORK (AP) _ Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., which lost in its battle to cross the Atlantic with a failed takeover bid for the London Stock Exchange, is expected to announce Friday it is acquiring Swedish exchange operator OMX AB in a deal worth up to $3 billion, according to a person close to the deal. The U.S. electronic exchange, home to such technology bellwethers as Microsoft Corp. and Dell Inc., would use the acquisition as a springboard to gain European listings.

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Dell to Sell Computers at Wal-Mart

NEW YORK (AP) _ In a departure from the direct-to-consumer business model it was founded on, Dell Inc. plans to sell computers at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer. A Dell spokesman said Thursday the computer maker will begin selling two models from its Dimension desktop computer line in about 3,000 Wal-Marts beginning June 10.

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Gold Prices

HONG KONG (AP) _ Gold closed at $655.25 an ounce Friday in Hong Kong, down $3.20 an ounce from Wednesday's close of $658.45. Hong Kong's financial markets were closed Thursday for a public holiday.

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Japan Markets

TOKYO (AP) _ Japanese stocks dropped Friday for a second straight day, dragged down by bank and auto shares.

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Dollar-Yen

TOKYO (AP) _ The dollar slips in Asia Friday as traders took profits, although they said they recent strong U.S. economic data would support the dollar.

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